Includes refinements to diet, bedding or flooring, cage changing, lighting, temperature, noise levels, etc.
For more than three decades, foot and musculoskeletal conditions have been documented among both Asian [Elephas maximus] and African [Loxodonta africana] elephants in zoos. Although environmental factors have been hypothesized to play a contributing role...
Resting behaviors are an essential component of animal welfare but have received little attention in zoological research. African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) and Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) rest includes recumbent postures, but no large-scale investigation...
Understanding the factors associated with the long-term stress levels of captive animals is important from the view of animal welfare. In this study, we investigated the effects of relocation in addition to individual and environmental...
Research with humans and other animals suggests that walking benefits physical health. Perhaps because these links have been demonstrated in other species, it has been suggested that walking is important to elephant welfare, and that...
As part of a multi-institutional study of zoo elephant welfare, we evaluated female elephants managed by zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and applied epidemiological methods to determine what factors in the...
With female ferrets subjected to different degrees of intensity of light irradiation as measured by placing them at different distances from a 1000 W. lamp, the acceleration of the oestrous cycle, generally speaking, was correlated...
The effects of the presence of woodchips as a floor covering were assessed on psychological well-being in two pens housing 28 macaques. No negative effects were found, while aggression decreased and time foraging on the...
Placing a rat into a new cage triggers release of corticosterones. This endocrine response is augmented if the new environment is one in which other rats had previously been subjected to stress.
Mortality and tumor incidence in corcinogenesis experiments differ between mice caged in the top vs. bottom of the rack.
The preponderance of experimental evidence gathered over the past three decades indicates that exposure to intense noise can lead to a wide variety of functional and structural changes in laboratory animals. Although little information regarding...